Interactive and dynamic multi-target toss game

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides apparatuses and methods for playing toss game. The toss games of the present invention only use projectiles as targets. A playing surface is divided into two areas: a standing area and a target area Players stand in said standing area and throw projectiles onto said target area. In some methods, the object is to be the first to gain enough points to win a game by targeting projectiles on the target area. The points are calculated according to a predetermined scoring method. In the other methods, the object is to be the first to complete a predetermined wining pattern by throwing projectiles to proper locations on the target area. The apparatus of the present invention consists of plurality of projectiles or consists of means for marking a standing area and plurality of projectiles. The toss games of the present invention are very dynamic and challenging yet easy to learn and fun to play.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/001,113, filed on Dec. 10, 2007 and published on Jul. 31,2008 with Publication No. US-2008-0179834-A1, which claims the benefitof U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/897,995, filed on Jan. 29, 2007and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/997,299, filed on Oct. 1, 2007.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to games; more particularly, the presentinvention relates to multi-target toss games.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Tossing games are well known and have been popular for many years.Basically, the games consist of a player tossing an item, such as aring, a horse shoe or a bean bag, toward a fixed target and scoringpoints if the item encircles the target, hits the target or lands nearthe target. The popular toss games include ring toss game, Horseshoe,Corn Hole, Washer Toss game and Ladder Golf. There are also manypatented toss games. All the existing toss games before the presentinvention have two things in common. They all include at least oneprojectile and at least one thing used for target. Ring toss game usesrings as projectiles and pegs as targets. Horseshoe uses horse shoes asprojectiles and two stakes as targets. Washer Toss game uses washers asprojectiles and two box shaped structures as targets. Corn Hole usesbean bags as projectiles and two target boards with a hole on each astargets. Ladder Golf uses bolas as projectiles and a ladder shaped standwith two or more horizontal bars as target. The targets are fixedwithout changing during playing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides apparatuses and methods for playing tossgames. The toss games do not use anything as a fixed target, and insteaduses projectiles as targets. These toss games are perfect for playing onbackyards, parks, beaches and indoor.

A playing surface is divided into two areas. One of these two areas isreferred as a standing area and the other area is referred as targetarea. While playing, players stand on the standing area and throwprojectiles onto the target area. Some playing methods use “touchedpairs” to calculate points. A touched pair is two projectiles thattouched each other. The other playing methods use “linked cluster” andpatterns to determine winner. A linked cluster is a group of projectilesthat are linked through touching.

In accordance with the present invention First method of playing tossgame for at least two teams comprises, but not necessarily in the ordershown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing two or more groups of projectiles, any projectile in anyone of said groups looks different from any projectile in the othergroups; each team obtains one group of projectiles,

(c) determining a playing order,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a projectile from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points according to a predetermined scoring method,

(g) taking back all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) determining whether current turn ends according to a predeterminedcondition of ending a turn, if current turn ends then passing the turnto the next player according to said playing order, otherwise the playeron current turn keeps his turn,

(i) taking back a player's team's one or more projectiles from thetarget area according to a predetermined retrieving rule specifying howmany projectiles may or must be taken back if this player is on his turnand all his team's projectiles are on the target area without touchedpairs,

(j) repeating (e) through (i) until a predetermined condition of endinga game is satisfied, the winner or winners are the teams with thehighest points.

In accordance with the present invention Second method of playing tossgame for at least two teams comprises, but not necessarily in the ordershown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing plurality of projectiles, all players share saidprojectiles,

(c) determining a playing order,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a projectile from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points according a predetermined scoring method,

(g) taking back all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) determining whether current turn ends according to a predeterminedcondition of ending a turn, if current turn ends then passing the turnto the next player according to said playing order, otherwise the playeron current turn keeps his turn,

(i) taking back one or more projectiles from the target area accordingto a predetermined retrieving rule specifying how many projectiles mayor must be taken back if all the projectiles are on the target areawithout touched pairs,

(j) repeating (e) through (i) until a predetermined condition of endinga game is satisfied, the winner or winners are the teams with thehighest points.

In accordance with the present invention Third method of playing tossgame for at least two teams comprises, but not necessarily in the ordershown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing two or more groups of projectiles, any projectile in anyone of said groups looks different from any projectile in the othergroups; each team obtains one group of projectiles,

(c) determining a playing order,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a projectile from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) taking back all linked clusters each of which consists of differentteam's projectiles,

(g) determining whether current turn ends according to a predeterminedcondition of ending a turn, if current turn ends then passing the turnto the next player according to said playing order, otherwise the playeron current turn keeps his turn,

(h) taking back a player's team's one or more projectiles from thetarget area according to a predetermined retrieving rule specifying howmany projectiles may or must be taken back if this player is on his turnand all his team's projectiles are on the target area,

(i) repeating (e) through (h) until a team completes a predeterminedwining pattern, the winner is the team who first completes apredetermined wining pattern.

Each of the methods described above may further provide means formarking the standing area.

In accordance with the present invention, First apparatus of toss gameconsists of plurality of projectiles. Whereby players can play toss gameaccording to the Second method of playing toss game or other similarmethods. The projectiles of this apparatus can be further divided intotwo or more groups. Any projectile in any one of said groups looksdifferent from any projectile in the other groups. Whereby players canplay toss game according to the First, Second or Third method of playingtoss game or other similar methods.

In accordance with the present invention, Second apparatus of toss gameconsists of plurality of projectiles and means for marking a standingarea Whereby players can play toss game according to the Second methodof playing toss game or other similar methods. The projectiles of thisapparatus can be further divided into two or more groups. Any projectilein any one of said groups looks different from any projectile in theother groups. Whereby players can play toss game according to the First,Second or Third method of playing toss game or other similar methods.

Advantages

After you read the above summary and the following “description”section, you can easily see that a big difference between my toss gamesand the other toss games is that my toss games do not include anythingthat serves as a fixed target from the beginning to the end of a game.Instead, my toss games use projectiles as targets. This difference makemy toss games interactive and dynamic multi-target games, and leads to alot of other differences, and gives my toss games a number ofadvantages.

(a) The toss game of present invention is very dynamic. The number oftargets changes all the time. You may have up to N-1 targets if the gameapparatus includes N projectiles. Sometimes, you don't have any target.During play, some existing targets are removed and new targets areadded. New targets usually have different locations and differentdistances. The targets form different patterns while playing. Thepattern changes all the time. Two or more targets often lie veryclosely. In this situation, the player on the turn often gets excitedbecause he gets a chance to target two or more targets with a singlethrow. This feature makes this game more addictive than other tossgames.

(b) The toss game of present invention is very interactive. For theFirst or Second method of playing toss game, if a player doesn't earnany point on his turn then he has already added one target, which maymake the next player earn points easily or earn more points. Forexample, if a projectile just thrown are close to one or more otherprojectiles on the target area then next player gets a chance to targettwo or more projectiles with one throw. If the projectile just thrown isclose to the standing area then it is easier for the next player totarget it. If a player earns some points on his turn then he has alreadytaken back some projectiles from the target area, which may make thenext player harder to earn points or even impossible to earn points. Forthe Third method of playing toss game, a player tries to build his ownwining pattern and at same time he has to destroy the wining pattern hisopponent is building by targeting his opponent's projectiles on thetarget area. When the winning pattern his opponent is building has beendestroyed his opponent must build it again, which takes more effort. Hisopponent can also destroy the winning pattern he is building. Eachplayer's play directly impacts the next player's play. In one word, thegames are very interactive.

(c) The toss game of present invention is a game of “freedom”. If thereare no targets, you can freely throw your projectile in any directionand with any distance. But, choosing a proper throwing distance is achallenge. If you throw a projectile too far, it is harder to target itfor winning points or building a wining pattern. If you throw aprojectile too close to the standing area, your opponent can target iteasily. If there are some targets there, you can freely choose yourtargets. Choosing targets is also a challenge. Right choice may make youwin more, and wrong choice may make you lose more.

(d) The toss game of present invention is very convenient toss game. Youdon't need to set up any target. You don't need to measure the distancebetween a target and a foul line. You can complete the game set upwithin just two seconds Oust determining a standing area or dropping amarking object on a playing surface to mark a standing area). The gamerules are very simple.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Not applicable.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides apparatuses and methods for playing tossgames. The toss games do not use anything as a fixed target, and insteaduses projectiles as targets. These toss games are perfect for playing onbackyards, parks, beaches and indoor.

A playing surface is divided into two areas. One of these two areas isreferred as a standing area and the other area is referred as targetarea. While playing, players stand on the standing area and throwprojectiles onto the target area. Some playing methods use “touchedpairs” to calculate points. A touched pair is two projectiles thattouched each other. The other playing methods use “linked cluster” andpatterns to determine winner. A linked cluster is a group of projectilesthat are linked through touching. In another word, a group ofprojectiles are called a linked cluster if for any pair of projectiles Aand Z in this group, A links Z in this way: A touches Z, or A touchesprojectile B and B touches Z, or A touches projectile B and B touchesprojectile C and C touches Z, etc., where B, C, etc are also in thisgroup. A touched pair is also a linked cluster. If four tossing rings A,B, C and D lie on a playing surface like this: A touches B, C and D thenthese four rings form a linked cluster; if A touches B, B touches C andC touches D then they also form a linked cluster.

EMBODIMENTS

The present invention has unlimited number of embodiments. The followingare just some preferred embodiments.

In section “summary of the invention”, First and Second methods need apredetermined scoring method, a predetermined condition of ending aturn, a predetermined retrieving rule, and a predetermined condition ofending a game. Third method needs a predetermined condition of ending aturn, a predetermined retrieving rule, and a predetermined winingpattern. The following are only some of them.

First scoring method: (1) determining the number of touched pairs on atarget area; one projectile can be used N times for counting the numberof touched pairs if it touches N other projectiles; for example, iffirst projectile touches second projectile and third projectile, andsecond projectile and third projectile don't touch each other then theyare counted as two touched pairs (first projectile is used two times),(2) a touched pair is given one point if two projectiles of this touchedpair belong to different teams; a touched pair is given two points iftwo projectiles of this touched pair belong to the same team, (3) addingthe points of all the touched pairs.

Second scoring method: this scoring method is the First scoring methodplus one more rule: if the first throw of a turn results only onetouched pair consisting of two projectiles belonging to different teamsthen no points are given.

Third scoring method: (1) determining the number of touched pairs in thesame way as the First scoring method, (2) if there are N touched pairsin the target area then the points is N times 2 minus 1.

Fourth scoring method: this scoring method is the Third scoring methodplus one more rule: if the first throw of a turn results only onetouched pair then no points are given.

Fifth scoring method: (1) determining the number of touched pairs in thesame way as the First scoring method, (2) one touched pair counts as onepoint, but if the first throw of a turn results only one touched pairthen no points are given.

Sixth scoring method: if the projectile thrown by a player when he is onhis turn touches or intersects N other projectiles on a target area thenhe gain N points.

First condition of ending a turn: a turn ends after one throw.

Second condition of ending a turn: a turn ends only if a throw resultsno touched pairs.

Third condition of ending a turn: If a throw results at least onetouched pair consisting of projectiles belonging to different teams thenthe player on the current turn continues to play, otherwise the currentturn ends.

First retrieving rule: taking back a player's team's all projectilesfrom the target area.

Second retrieving rule: taking back all the projectiles from the targetarea.

Third retrieving rule: a player takes back all his team's isolatedprojectiles from the target area. An isolated projectile is one thatdoesn't touch any other projectiles.

First condition of ending a game: a team's points reach or exceedpredetermined score value such as 21 points.

Second condition of ending a game: a team's all projectiles have beenthrown onto the target area without touched pairs.

Third condition of ending a game: all projectiles have been thrown ontothe target area without touched pairs.

Fourth condition of ending a game: playing time reaches a predeterminedtime limit such as 30 minutes.

Fifth condition of ending a game: a team's points reach or exceedpredetermined score value and are at least two more points higher thanany other team's points.

One may use the combinations of First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifthconditions of ending a game to specify other conditions of ending agame. The following are only some of them.

Sixth condition of ending a game: playing time reaches a predeterminedtime limit or a team's points reach or exceed predetermined score value.

Seventh condition of ending a game: a team's points reach or exceedpredetermined score value or all projectiles have been thrown onto thetarget area without touched pairs.

Eighth condition of ending a game: a team's points reach or exceedpredetermined score value or a team's all projectiles have been thrownonto the target area without touched pairs.

First winning pattern of a team: a linked cluster of a team's fourprojectiles.

Second winning pattern of a team: a linked cluster of a team's fiveprojectiles.

Third winning pattern of a team: a linked cluster of two projectiles anda linked cluster of three projectiles, where the projectiles form thesetwo linked clusters belong to a same team.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in First method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is First scoring method, the condition of ending a turnis First condition of ending a turn, and the retrieving rule is Firstretrieving rule, the condition of ending a game is First condition ofending a game, then I have the following embodiment.

First way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing two or more groups of rings, all rings in any one of saidgroups have the same color and different groups have different colors,each player obtains one group of rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two rings on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) atouched pair is given one point if two rings of this touched pair havedifferent colors; a touched pair is given two points if two rings ofthis touched pair have the same color, (3) adding the points of all thetouched pairs,

(g) taking back all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) passing the turn to the next player according to said playing order,

(i) taking back a player's all rings from the target area if this playeris on his turn and all his rings are on the target area without touchedpairs,

(j) repeating (e) through (i) until a player reaches or exceeds 21points, the winner is the player who first reaches or exceeds 21 points.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in First method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is Second scoring method, the condition of ending a turnis Second condition of ending a turn, and the retrieving rule is Firstretrieving rule, the condition of ending a game is First condition ofending a game, then I have the following embodiment.

Second way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing two or more groups of rings, all rings in any one of saidgroups have the same color and different groups have different colors,each player obtains one group of rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two rings on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) atouched pair is given one point if two rings of this touched pair havedifferent colors; a touched pair is given two points if two rings ofthis touched pair have the same color; but if the first throw of a turnresults only one touched pair with different colors then no points aregiven, (3) adding the points of all the touched pairs,

(g) taking back all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) if the throw just performed by the player on current turn results atleast one touched pair on the target area then this player keeps histurn, otherwise passes the turn to the next player according to saidplaying order,

(i) if a player is on his turn and all his rings is lying on the targetarea without touched pairs then take all his rings back,

(j) repeating (e) through (i) until a player reaches or exceeds 21points, the winner is the player who first reaches or exceeds 21 points.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in First method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is First scoring method, and the condition of ending aturn is First condition of ending a turn, the condition of ending a gameis Eighth condition of ending a game, then I have the followingembodiment.

Third way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing two or more groups of rings, all rings in any one of saidgroups have the same color and different groups have different colors,each player obtains one group of rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two rings on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) atouched pair is given one point if two rings of this touched pair havedifferent colors; a touched pair is given two points if two rings ofthis touched pair have the same color, (3) adding the points of all thetouched pairs,

(g) taking back all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) passing the turn to the next player according to said playing order,

(i) repeating (e) through (h) until a player reaches or exceeds 21points or the player on current turn has thrown all his rings onto thetarget area without touched pairs, the winner or winners are the playerswho have the highest points.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in First method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is Second scoring method, and the condition of ending aturn is Second condition of ending a turn, the condition of ending agame is Eighth condition of ending a game, then I have the followingembodiment.

Fourth way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing two or more groups of rings, all rings in any one of saidgroups have the same color and different groups have different colors,each player obtains one group of rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two rings on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) atouched pair is given one point if two rings of this touched pair havedifferent colors; a touched pair is given two points if two rings ofthis touched pair have the same color; but if the first throw of a turnresults only one touched pair having different colors then no points aregiven, (3) adding the points of all the touched pairs,

(g) taking back all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) if the throw just performed by the player on current turn results atleast one touched pair on the target area then this player keeps histurn, otherwise passes the turn to the next player according to saidplaying order,

(i) repeating (e) through (h) until a player reaches or exceeds 21points or the player on current turn has thrown all his rings onto thetarget area without touched pairs, the winner or winners are the playerswho have the highest points.

Note that the scoring method in First, Second, Third or Fourth way ofplaying toss game can be replaced with Third scoring method.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in Second method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is Third scoring method, the condition of ending a turnis First condition of ending a turn, the retrieving rule is Secondretrieving rule, and the condition of ending a game is First conditionof ending a game, then I have the following embodiment.

Fifth way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing plurality of rings, all players share said rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two ring on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) usingformula: the number of touched pairs times 2 minus 1 to calculatepoints,

(g) taking all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) passing the turn to the next player according to said playing order,

(i) taking back all the rings from the target area if all the rings areon the target area without touched pairs,

(j) repeating (e) through (i) until a player reaches or exceeds 21points, the winner is the player who first reaches or exceeds 21 points.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in Second method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is Fourth scoring method, the condition of ending a turnis Second condition of ending a turn, the retrieving rule is Secondretrieving rule, and the condition of ending a game is First conditionof ending a game, then I have the following embodiment.

Sixth way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing plurality of rings, all players share said rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two ring on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) usingformula: the number of touched pairs times 2 minus 1 to calculatepoints, but if the first throw of a turn results only one touched pairthen no points are given.

(g) taking all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) if the throw just performed by the player on current turn results atleast one touched pair on the target area then this player keeps histurn, otherwise passes the turn to the next player according to saidplaying order,

(i) taking back all the rings from the target area if all the rings areon the target area without touched pairs,

(j) repeating (e) through (i) until a player reaches or exceeds 21points, the winner is the player who first reaches or exceeds 21 points.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in Second method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is Third scoring method, the condition of ending a turnis First condition of ending a turn, and the condition of ending a gameis Seventh condition of ending a game, then I have the followingembodiment.

Seventh way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing plurality of rings, all players share said rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two ring on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) usingformula: the number of touched pairs times 2 minus 1 to calculatepoints,

(g) taking back all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) passing the turn to the next player according to said playing order,

(i) repeating (e) through (h) until a player reaches or exceeds 21points or all the rings are on the target area without touched pairs,the winner or winners are the players with the highest points.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in Second method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is Fourth scoring method, the condition of ending a turnis Second condition of ending a turn, and the condition of ending a gameis Seventh condition of ending a game, then I have the followingembodiment.

Eighth way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing plurality of rings, all players share said rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two ring on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) usingformula: the number of touched pairs times 2 minus 1 to calculatepoints, but if the first throw results only one touched pair then nopoints are given.

(g) taking back all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) if the throw just performed by the player on current turn results atleast one touched pair on the target area then this player keeps histurn, otherwise passes the turn to the next player according to saidplaying order,

(i) repeating (e) through (h) until a player reaches or exceeds 21points or all the rings are on the target area without touched pairs,the winner or winners are the players with the highest points.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in Second method ofplaying toss game has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thescoring method is Fifth scoring method, the condition of ending a turnis Second condition of ending a turn, the retrieving rule is Secondretrieving rule, and the condition of ending a game is First conditionof ending a game, then I have the following embodiment.

Ninth way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing plurality of rings, all players share said rings,

(c) determining a playing order by drawing lots or tossing a coin orother methods,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) scoring points if at least two ring on the target area touch eachother, (1) determining the number of touched pairs; one ring can be usedN times for counting the number of touched pairs if it touches N otherrings; for example, if first ring touches second ring and third ring,and second ring and third ring don't touch each other then they arecounted as two touched pairs (first ring is used two times), (2) onetouched pair counts as one point, but if the first throw of a turnresults only one touched pair then no points are given,

(g) taking all the touched pairs from the target area if any,

(h) if the throw just performed by the player on current turn results atleast one touched pair on the target area then this player keeps histurn, otherwise passes the turn to the next player according to saidplaying order,

(i) taking back all the rings from the target area if all the rings areon the target area without touched pairs,

(j) repeating (e) through (i) until a player reaches or exceeds 7points, the winner is the player who first reaches or exceeds 7 points.

In section “summary of the invention”, if each team in Third method ofplaying toss has only one player, the projectiles are rings, thecondition of ending a turn is First condition of ending a turn, and theretrieving rule is Third retrieving rule, and the winning pattern isFirst, Second or Third winning pattern, then I have the followingembodiment.

Tenth way of playing toss game for at least two players comprises, butnot necessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing two or more groups of rings, each of said groups contains5 rings; all rings in the same group have the same color and rings indifferent groups have different colors; each player obtains one group ofrings,

(c) determining a playing order,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) taking back all linked clusters each of which contains rings withdifferent colors,

(g) passing the turn to the next player,

(h) a player on his turn takes back all his isolated rings from thetarget area before his throw if all his rings are on the target area,

(i) repeating (e) through (h) until a player completes his winningpattern, which is one of the following: (1) a linked cluster of four hisrings, (2) a linked cluster of five his rings, (3) a linked cluster oftwo his rings and a linked cluster of three his rings. The winner is theplayer who first completes his wining pattern.

For this game, a player tries to build his winning pattern by throwingrings onto proper locations, and at the same time Step (f) allows him to“destroy” the winning pattern his opponent is building by throwing ringsto target his opponent's linked clusters. His opponent can also destroythe winning pattern he is building. They “fight” each other whileplaying. This game is a very interesting and challenging.

Combining the Tenth way of playing toss game and the First, Second,Third or Fourth way of playing toss game, you may have many otherdifferent ways to play toss game. The following is one of them.

Eleventh way of playing toss game for two players comprises, but notnecessarily in the order shown below:

(a) choosing a playing surface,

(b) providing two groups of rings, each of said groups contains 5 rings;all rings in the same group have the same color and rings in differentgroups have different colors; each player obtains one group of rings,

(c) determining a playing order,

(d) determining an area on said playing surface as standing area, thearea of the playing surface excluding said standing area is target area,

(e) throwing a ring from the standing area onto said target area,

(f) Scoring points in this way: a linked cluster of three rings with thesame color is counted as one point, a linked cluster of four rings withthe same color is counted as two points, and a linked cluster of fiverings with the same color is counted as three points,

(g) taking back the linked clusters each of which contains rings withdifferent colors, and the linked clusters each of which has at leastthree rings.

(h) passing the turn to the next player,

(i) a player on his turn takes back all his isolated rings from thetarget area if all his rings are on the target area,

(j) repeating (e) through (i) until a player's points reach or exceeds5. The winner is the player with higher points.

In each of the ways of playing toss game described above, the ringstaken back from the target area can be thrown again.

Each of the ways of playing toss game described above may furtherprovide means for marking the standing area. Said means can be a largeenough ring that allows any normal person to put at least one of hisfeet inside said large enough ring when this large enough ring lies onthe playing surface. A player puts one of his feet inside the largeenough ring before throwing projectiles. The means can be a mat. Aplayer puts one of his feet on said mat before throwing projectiles. Themeans can be a line. Players stand on one side of this line and throwprojectiles onto the other side. The means can be natural things such asthe edge of a lawn. Players stand outside of the lawn and throwprojectiles onto the lawn. The means can be anything else, which canmark the standing area.

Each of the ways of playing toss game described above can apply toteams. For example, there are two teams and each team has two players.Suppose team A has players A1 and A2, and team B has players B2 and B2.They can play in this order: A1, B1, A2, B2, A1, B1, A2, B2, A1, and soon without changing other rules.

In section “summary of the invention”, if the projectiles of Firstapparatus of toss game and Second apparatus of toss game are rings andthe means is a mat then I have the following embodiments.

An apparatus of toss game consists of plurality of rings. Wherebyplayers can play toss game according to Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth orNinth way of playing toss game or other similar ways. Said rings can befurther divided into two or more groups, the rings in the same grouphave the same color and different groups have different colors. Wherebyplayers can play toss game according to First, Second, Third, Fourth,Tenth or Eleventh way of playing toss game or other similar ways.

An apparatus of toss game consists of plurality of rings and a mat, aplayer puts at least one of his feet on said mat before throwing a ring.Whereby players can play toss game according to Fifth, Sixth, Seventh,Eighth or Ninth way of playing toss game or other similar ways. Saidrings can be further divided into two or more groups, the rings in thesame group have the same color and different groups have differentcolors. Whereby players can play toss game according to First, Second,Third, Fourth, Tenth or Eleventh way of playing toss game or othersimilar ways.

Ramification and Scope

The description above should not be treated as limiting the scope of thepresent invention but as merely providing illustrations of somepreferred embodiments of the present invention. The rings describedabove can be replaced with other projectiles such as discs, triangles,or other objects that can be used as projectiles. The colors are used todistinguish the rings used by different players. The rings can also bedistinguished in other ways such as patterns on the rings. For First,Second, Third, Fourth, Tenth or Eleventh way of playing toss game, ifthe rings are replaced with other projectiles then any projectile in anyone of the groups should look different from the projectiles in theother groups. Each of the scoring methods described above can bereplaced with any scoring method that makes sense. For First, Second,Fifth, Sixth or Ninth way of playing toss game, it is not necessary totake back all the player's projectiles or all the projectiles from atarget area if all the player's projectiles or all the projectiles areon the target area without touched pairs, and a rule can be defined tospecify how many projectiles may or must be taken back. A condition ofending a game can be anything that makes sense. The general descriptionof the present invention is given in section “summary of the invention”and in the following claims.

1. A method of playing toss game for at least two teams comprising, butnot necessarily in the order shown below: (a) choosing a playingsurface, (b) providing plurality of groups of projectiles, anyprojectile in any one of said groups looks different from any projectilein the other groups; each team obtains one group of the projectiles, (c)determining a playing order, (d) determining an area on said playingsurface as standing area, (e) throwing a projectile from said standingarea onto the target area that is the area of the playing surfaceexcluding the standing area, (f) scoring points according to apredetermined scoring method, (g) taking back all touched pairs from thetarget area, (h) determining whether current turn ends according to apredetermined condition of ending a turn, if current turn ends thenpassing the turn to the next player according to said playing order,otherwise the player on current turn keeps his turn, (i) taking back aplayer's team's projectiles from the target area according to apredetermined retrieving rule specifying how many projectiles may ormust be taken back if this player is on his turn and all his team'sprojectiles are on the target area without touched pairs, (j) repeating(e) through (i) until a predetermined condition of ending a game issatisfied, the winner or winners are the teams with the highest points.2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said teams has only oneplayer, and each of the groups contains at least two projectiles, andsaid scoring method includes (1) determining the number of touchedpairs; one projectile can be used N times for counting the number oftouched pairs if it touches N other projectiles, (2) a touched pair isgiven one point if the two projectiles of said touched pair are fromdifferent groups; a touched pair is given two points if the twoprojectiles of said touched pair are from the same group; but if thefirst throw of a turn results only one touched pair consisting ofprojectiles from different groups then no points are given, (3) addingthe points of all the touched pairs, and said condition of ending a turnis that current turn ends only if a throw results no touched pairs, andsaid retrieving rule is that a player takes back all his projectilesfrom the target area, and said condition of ending a game is that aplayer's points reach or exceed 21, and all the projectiles are rings;all the rings in the same group have the same color; the rings fromdifferent groups have different colors.
 3. The method of claim 1,further providing marking means for marking the standing area.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein said marking means is a mat, a player puts atleast one of his feet on said mat before throwing a projectile.
 5. Amethod of playing toss game for at least two teams comprising, but notnecessarily in the order shown below: (a) choosing a playing surface,(b) providing plurality of projectiles, all players share saidprojectiles, (c) determining a playing order, (d) determining an area onsaid playing surface as standing area, (e) throwing a projectile fromsaid standing area onto the target area that is the area of the playingsurface excluding said standing area, (f) scoring points according to apredetermined scoring method, (g) taking back all touched pairs from thetarget area if any, (h) determining whether current turn ends accordingto a predetermined condition of ending a turn, if current turn ends thenpassing the turn to the next player according to said playing order,otherwise the player on current turn keeps his turn, (i) taking backprojectiles from the target area according to a predetermined retrievingrule specifying how many projectiles may or must be taken back if allthe projectiles are on the target area without touched pairs, (j)repeating (e) through (i) until a predetermined condition of ending agame is satisfied, the winner or winners are the teams with the highestpoints.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein each of said teams has onlyone player, and said scoring method includes (1) determining the numberof touched pairs; one projectile can be used N times for counting thenumber of touched pairs if it touches N other projectiles, (2) thenumber of points equals the number of the touched pairs, but if thefirst throw of a turn results only one touched pair then no points aregiven, and said condition of ending a turn is that current turn endsonly if a throw results no touched pairs, and said retrieving rule isthat all projectiles must be taken back and said condition of ending agame is that a player's points reach or exceed 7, and all theprojectiles are rings.
 7. The method of claim 5, further providingmarking means for marking the standing area.
 8. The method of claim 7,said marking means is a mat, a player puts at least one of his feet onsaid mat before throwing a projectile.
 9. A method of playing toss gamefor at least two teams comprises, but not necessarily in the order shownbelow: (a) choosing a playing surface, (b) providing plurality of groupsof projectiles, any projectile in any one of said groups looks differentfrom any projectile in the other groups; each team obtains one group ofprojectiles, (c) determining a playing order, (d) determining an area onsaid playing surface as standing area, the area of the playing surfaceexcluding said standing area is target area, (e) throwing a projectilefrom the standing area onto said target area, (f) taking back all linkedclusters each of which contains different team's projectiles, (g)determining whether current turn ends according to a predeterminedcondition of ending a turn, if current turn ends then passing the turnto the next player according to said playing order, otherwise the playeron current turn keeps his turn, (h) taking back a player's team's one ormore projectiles from the target area according to a predeterminedretrieving rule specifying how many projectiles may or must be takenback if this player is on his turn and all his team's projectiles are onthe target area, (i) repeating (e) through (h) until a team completes apredetermined wining pattern, the winner is the team who first completesa predetermined wining pattern.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein eachof said teams has only one player, and each of the groups contains 5projectiles, and said condition of ending a turn is that a turn endsafter one throw, and said retrieving rule is that a player takes backall his isolated projectiles from the target area, and said winningpattern is one of the following (1) a linked cluster of fourprojectiles, (2) a linked cluster of five projectiles, (3) a linkedcluster of two projectiles and a linked cluster of three projectiles,but for a player, his wining pattern consists of only his projectiles,and all the projectiles are rings, all the rings in the same group havethe same color; the rings from different groups have different colors.11. The method of claim 9, further providing marking means for markingthe standing area.
 12. The method of claim 11, said marking means is amat, a player puts at least one of his feet on said mat before throwinga projectile.
 13. An apparatus of toss game consists of plurality ofprojectiles. Whereby players can play toss game according to the methodof claim 5 or 6, or other similar methods.
 14. The apparatus of claim13, wherein all projectiles are rings.
 15. The apparatus of claim 13,wherein said projectiles are further divided into plurality of groups,any projectile in any one of said groups looks different from anyprojectile in the other groups. Whereby players can play toss gameaccording to the method of claim 1, 2, 9 or 10, or other similarmethods.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein all projectiles arerings, the rings in the same group have the same color; the rings fromdifferent groups have different colors.
 17. An apparatus of toss gameconsists of plurality of projectiles and means for marking a area whereplayers stand and throw projectiles. Whereby players can play toss gameaccording to the method of claim 7 or 8, or other similar methods. 18.The apparatus of claim 17, wherein all projectiles are rings and saidmeans is a mat, a player puts at least one of his feet on said matbefore throwing a projectile.
 19. The apparatus of claim 17, whereinsaid projectiles are further divided into plurality of groups, anyprojectile in any one of said groups looks different from any projectilein the other groups. Whereby players can play toss game according to themethod of claim 3, 4, 11, or 12 or other similar methods.
 20. Theapparatus of claim 19, wherein all projectiles are rings, the rings inthe same group have the same color, the rings from different groups havedifferent colors, and said means is a mat, a player puts at least one ofhis feet on said mat before throwing a projectile.